The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18) But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. For those who think that fear is a natural and unavoidable feeling, God’s Word tells us that “There is no fear in love. How do we know this? God’s Word tells us that perfect love casts out all fear. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5)įear is another feeling which is completely unnecessary in the life of a believer. Putting off dealing with guilt inevitably compounds the problems. That in turn generates depression, anxiety, and other emotional problems. Dealing with a wounded conscience immediately by heart-searching prayer before God is the only way to keep it clear and sensitive. Procrastination allows the guilt feelings to fester. That is because we don’t truly believe we are forgiven, and when we don’t believe that we’re forgiven, how on earth can we expect to feel like it? We can’t!ĭon’t procrastinate in clearing your wounded conscience. Some people put off dealing with their guilt, thinking their conscience will clear itself in time. As long as we think that we’ve messed up too badly, or need to do something before we can be forgiven, we will live with a dirty conscience. When we truly believe that the Blood of Christ has paid the full price for our failures, only then can we have a truly clean conscience. But we can only have that clean conscience when we stand firm on God’s Word and believe what it really says about the forgiveness of our sins. So with that said, it is important to have a clean conscience. Paul said, “I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men” (Acts 24:16). In fact, that is your daily privilege and joy. Is a clean conscience important according to God’s Word? Yes! “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:14)As a Christian, you have the capacity to walk before God with a clear conscience. False guilt is an indication of a faulty belief. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:6-8)Ī dirty conscience should not be ignored, but rather investigated. “ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Feelings of guilt, for example, do not necessarily mean that we are indeed guilty, but rather that our beliefs are not rooted and grounded on God’s Word like they ought to be. The key is to learn how to discern what our feelings are really telling us, and then get to the root of the problem. I don’t think it’s healthy to completely ignore our feelings, but I can assure you that it is not healthy to go by our feelings either. It is important to be balanced when dealing with our feelings. Do we believe that when a man confesses his sin and believes upon Christ, that he is forgiven? Or do we, in the back of our minds, wonder if we’ve sinned too badly, or if we need to do something before we can be forgiven? Our feelings can be a great revealer of what we are really believing under the surface. If we feel wrong, then it wouldn’t hurt to stop and ask ourselves what we believe. Remember, feelings are just the fruit of our thoughts and beliefs. In this case, our feelings were wrong because our belief was wrong. What does God’s Word say about our guilt? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) When we choose to believe that over how we feel, then our feelings will begin to change because they are merely the fruit of our thoughts and beliefs. When we begin to feel guilty, we need to instead get to the root of the problem and address it with God’s Word. I need to go confess my sins again and go try to dot every i and cross every t.” That is letting feelings tell us what to do, and feelings can be (and often are) wrong. For example, if you feel guilty, don’t start thinking “Oh, it must be true. Feelings should not be ignored, but properly interpreted. It’s sort of like feeling a hot stove feelings are meant to help alert us of something that is wrong. If we think we are guilty, there will be feelings of guilt as the fruit of those thoughts or beliefs. Many times, feelings merely tell us what is going on in our thought life (or what we are really believing). If you feel guilty, it does not mean that you are guilty.
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